Taiwan International Media and Education Association (TIMEA) has joined hands with Portico Media to create The First Taiwan International Queer Film Festival (TIQFF). The festival will be held in the two biggest cities of Taiwan: Taipei, from Sept 26 to 30, and Kaohsiung, from Oct 3 to 7.In their inaugural year, the organizers have programmed 60 movies from 30 countries, created a production workshop featuring
speakers such as the legendary Nansun Shi, Stephen Israel (Helicopter Mom, G.B.F., Boy Culture), KIM JHO Gwang-soo (Two Weddings and a Funeral), and many more. How I Survived a Plague's Peter Staley will also be presenting his film and speak at various HIV-related symposiums ranging from the latest in HIV medication to living with the disease for over 30 years.The Opening Film is I Feel Like Disco, which was the
closing film at Frameline 38, and the Closing Film is Anita's Last Cha-Cha from the Philippines. Hsu Li-Kong, the famed producer of the Wedding Banquet, will be reflecting on the 21 years after the movie, and giving us an exclusive sneak peek of his latest feature project Baby Steps, a project that will hit cinemas on 2015 and that he co-produced with Stephen Israel.

Hoping to attract also the mainstream audience, TIQFF has selected films dealing with kids, parents, family and aging. The Festival also will have a Transgender Shorts and HIV Shorts category, to bring more awareness to these issues.

In an effort to become a platform for Chinese speaking queer cinema, TIQFF will be presenting the First Taiwan Queer Awards.The organizers received almost 100 submissions and shortlisted them down to the top 5. The winner will be announced during the end of the Festival in Kaohsiung.

Taiwan is one of the most liberal countries in the whole Asia-region. Taipei Pride attracts over 60,000 people per year. Many of the legislators are in support of Marriage Equality and many LGBT groups are actively campaigning and lobbying on this issue. A Taiwanese poll organized by the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) shows that 53% OF Taiwanese support the Marriage Equality Initiative. "We hope that the Queer Festival will not only play an anchor role in showing to the Taiwanese people the diversity of the LGBT community but, at the same time, the similarity to everyone else in this country," says Festival Director Jay Lin.

For more information you can visit their webpage (www.tiqff.com) and like them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/tiqff). You can also download the full festival program at this link.

All of the films will be subtitled in English and Chinese.

Peter Staley, a famous HIV/AIDS-LGBT rights activist and the main subject of the documentary How to Survive a Plague is also one of the guests. He will not only participate in a Q&A session after the film, but he will also meet with several organizations working in HIV education and prevention.

The ticket packages are already on sale at all the Family Marts and from next Monday, September 15 the individual tickets will go on sale at all the Family Mart and Fami ticket._______________________[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

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